More than 200 Yazidis who were held captive by Islamic State militants were freed on Wednesday (April 8) in northern Iraq, a Reuters witness said.
All those released were elderly or infirm, and also included two Christians.
“These people were taken captive by the criminal Daesh. We call for the liberation of our areas and we want to get back to our areas. We also ask for protection of our areas in order to prevent any future genocide against Yazidis. This is our demand for the world, the central government and Kurdistan government,” said Rana Hasan, a Yazidi from Mosul who was recording the names of those freed.
Islamic State militants attacked Yazidis in northwest Iraq last summer, killing or capturing and enslaving thousands of the minority group.
Those who could fled to the autonomous Kurdistan region where many are living in camps along with other religious and ethnic minorities as well as Sunni Muslims displaced by the Islamist militants.
Kurdish peshmerga forces drove back Islamic State militants in northwestern Iraq last month, breaking a long siege of Sinjar mountain where thousands of Yazidis had been stranded for months.
But many Yazidi villages remain under IS control.
Yazidi beliefs combine elements of several ancient Middle Eastern religions.
Islamic State fighters say the Yazidi must embrace their radical version of Islam or die.
Reuters